I sat down to watch Paddy’s TV Guide on Friday not particularly with high expectations, but neither with great apprehension. I read a brief synopsis of the programme, hosted by Take Me Out’s Paddy McGuinness, on The British Comedy Guide website that morning and discovered that they had difficulty in reviewing it positively. Nevertheless, I reasoned, ‘It must be better than Mad Mad World [a disappointingly poor panel show, in a similar vein to TV Guide, and also fronted by McGuinness last year for ITV – see my review to gauge the extent of my lack of enthusiasm]’. What I found myself watching, however, was a largely gag-free show which had me tittering a maximum of twice.
FORMAT PROBLEMS?
Paddy’s TV Guide, as well as seemingly trying to be TV Burp with an ‘old skool’ twist, has the feel of a show which would be best suited to a fledgling presenter or comedian to host on late-night E4. Instead, we have the great, eponymous Paddy presenting us with TV clips from yesteryear which I would extremely generously describe as hit/miss (with emphasis on the latter). Unfortunately, the clips – the centrepiece of the programme – don’t offer much material for poor Paddy and, while undeniably bizarre, it has to be said that they aren’t particularly funny in themselves, meaning that even the cream of the comedy crop would struggle to construct jokes around them. Add to this the fact that, at fifty minutes long, TV Guide seems drawn-out and protracted – anywhere between thirty seconds and half-an-hour really would suffice- and you have a show set to stumble through the next few weeks in its slot on Fridays on prime-time Channel 4.
THIS WON’T ‘DINK DANK DO’
Paddy is a great comedy actor and writer who has achieved success with his stand-up tours (the most recent of which saw him performing in some of the UK’s top arenas). When it comes to presenting, however, I feel that he should either stick to Take Me Out – which, it has to be said, has been largely responsible for the surge in his work offers since 2010 – or, alternatively, not agree to a show until he is 100% certain that the format is watertight. I offer this advice as this is something he seldom does nowadays, if Mad Mad World and TV Guide are anything to go by.
Some shows I take great joy in watching and reviewing, whereas some I force myself to tolerate to the bitter end purely so that I can write a review of it, otherwise I would have turned it off before the first ad break. Paddy’s TV Guide is an example of the latter and if there is no improvement by 10:10pm on Friday, I doubt I will be watching any more episodes.
Paddy’s TV Guide is on Fridays at 10pm on Channel 4
What did you think of Paddy’s TV Guide? Do you agree or disagree with my review? Feel free to comment below or tweet me about this or any other TV show – @UKTVReviewer
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